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Why There Is Discrimination
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12772 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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3 / 1987 |
2,511 Words |
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Darryl Paulson
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Although recent racial incidents have attracted national and international attention, racism is evident in various aspects of American life. The unemployment rate for adult blacks hovers around 15 percent, more than twice the average for whites. Some 31 percent of blacks are below the poverty line, a figure three times that of white Americans. In 1985 the median income of blacks was 56 percent of white median income. In 1975 the figure stood at 62 percent, so blacks are losing ground to whites in this important economic category. While black males make up only 6 percent of the American population, they comprise over 50 percent of the prison population. It becomes difficult to argue that these statistics are characteristic of a society in which racism is not evident.
Many incidents of racial violence can be attributed to a fear of change on the part of the dominant white culture. As racial groups compete on a more equal footing with whites for jobs, white resentment increases to the extent that their favored status in society is eroded. A white man from Georgia told a Mexican immigrant before shooting and killing him, "You're the reason I don't have a job." In Detroit, two unemployed auto workers beat to death a man of Chinese descent whom they mistook for Japanese. The unemployed auto workers blamed Japan for problems in the American automobile industry that led to their unemployment.
Marxist theory is of limited utility when describing racism and racial inequality. The reason for this is readily apparent. Marxist economic theory concentrates on class divisions in society and assumes that such divisions supersede those based on race and ethnicity. Although communist countries often chide the United States for its poor record in race relations, a growing number of Marxist theorists believe that American capitalism has no vested interest in perpetuating racism. Eugene Genovese, a Marxist historian, argues that with the decline of sharecropping and tenancy in the American South, along with other changes in the American economy, "American capitalism no longer needs or generates in the old way racial discrimination as an organized form of class rule." In fact, Genovese observes that "there is good reason to believe that the capitalists as a class and capitalism as a system would purge themselves of racism if they could."
A contrary view comes from Michael Reich, who argues in his article "The Economics of Racism" that contemporary capitalism depends upon the existence of radical divisions. If racial divisions exist in society, then these divisions are carried over into the work force. Such divisions divide the workers, drain their bargaining strength, and keep wages depressed.
A more prevalent political theory holds that American society is characterized by "institutional racism." Schools, churches, businesses, and government are accused of fostering and perpetuating racism. The National Urban League issued a report in January 1987 on "The State of Black America," in which they attack Reagan administration policies as "morally unjust" and "economically unfair." Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the NAACP, blames the resurgence of racism on the Reagan administration's effort to erode past racial gains by attempting to convince white males they are being mistreated. "It is a fact," Hooks told the national broad of the NAACP, "that the national administration...has been leading the attack on recent civil rights
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